As a range of imaging sources and related technology are available to probe or detects features and details of objects not generally visible to the naked eye there is great incentive to combine such information in a single visual image. However, prior methods of merging images from multiples sensors to form such composite images for visual observation have been dependent upon proper registration between corresponding real world points in each image. Combining images from different sources also combines noise such that otherwise distinct features in one image are less visible, or not readily correlated with reference features in the other image. Stereographic techniques involve the accurate placement and alignment (convergence) of cameras. Unfortunately, many issues can create non-convergable datasets that produce headache. Traditionally, it was thought that identical cameras would be required to achieve fusion. This technique allows for fusion from dissimilar kinds of cameras, fields of view with much greater convergence ranges.
It is therefore a first object of the present invention to provide an improved method of combining and presenting to the viewer images that exploits the forgiving properties of accommodation, resizing and rescaling capabilities of human monocular and stereoscopic vision, enabling facile fusion of diverse images to reveal otherwise hidden features, eliminate noise sources and avoid eye strain and fatigue.
It is yet another object of the invention to fuse multiple images to produce stereoscopic representations of the images that have good contrast and spatial depth perception.
It is another object of this invention to use black between alternating frames that allow the time for retinal decay to occur to achieve fusion with multiple images that are only approximately registered.